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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

“Autumn
Leaves” is without question one of the much loved golden
oldies of the 40s. Its original French version “Les Feuilles Mortes” sung by Yves Montand, in my opinion,
surpasses any other version in poignancy, and it leaves a lingering after-taste.
No doubt this is owed much to the heart-wrenching sentimental lyrics. Indeed,
the French song was rendered from Jacques Prevert’s great poem of the same
name.

Jacques Prevert may perhaps be a lesser known name
than Charles Baudelaire, Stephane Mallarme or Paul Verlaine in the realm of
French poetry, nonetheless his name was first introduced to me when I was
studying French in my youth at L’Alliance Francaise. Ever since, one of his
poems, “Barbara”, which was about the
afflictions brought on by war, has stuck in my head to this day.

Here’s the link to the French song “Les Feuilles Mortes” (“The Dead Leaves”)
performed by Italian-French actor/singer Yves Montand:-

Saturday, March 9, 2013

While
Hong Kong activists are busy talking about another “Occupy Central” movement –
this time to be a better organized and better grounded one than the last, the
passing away of Stephane Hessel, a much revered champion of
human rights and author of Time for
Outrage (Indignez-vous!), the very book that inspired “Occupy Wall Street”,
went largely unnoticed in Hong Kong.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Hong
Kong Arts Development Council’s award of a Gold ADC Critic’s Prize (the first of its kind) to a local
journalist Jia Xuanning for her critical essay on the film “Vulgar Comedy” (“低俗喜劇”) has stirred up much controversy.
The essay itself is under caustic attack from liberal-minded Hong
Kongers.

Here are
translated excerpts from another retort
article by an
InmediaHK writer:-

“I have
commented from a cultural viewpoint. Now let me give a critique on the latter
half of the essay from a social viewpoint.The essay points out [the
Mainland may well act as Hong Kong’s benevolent master, but it has not won Hong
Kongers’ heart. On the one hand Hong Kongers bow to the Mainland’s economic
prowess, while on the other refuse to let go of their residual sense of
superiority on the mental level. This paradoxical mentality is like the psychological
struggle of the film’s character played by Du: he shows an obsequious smiling
face, while at heart he feels he’s being raped; they feel alienated from the
mainlanders’s ‘inferiority’, yet they are being naturalized and glossed over.
In the face of the Mainland, Hong Kong senses a loss of self-esteem and a
collapse of the last line of defense with no power to retaliate, and in the end
the already sickly relationship between the two places will only exacerbate.]
(I’ve quoted this from the original essay, to avoid being accused of taking
remarks out of context.) Jia’s essay smacks of imperialist mentality, full of
condescension, insinuating that Hong Kongers are subservient to money, that
being rich is almighty (as implied by ‘benevolent master’). Yet, Jia does not
have a clear perception of reality. To say that Hong Kongers are jealous of
mainlanders’ wealth is pure conjecture. According to IMF data, Hong Kong has a
GDP per capita of close to US$36,000, while the Mainland’s figure is around
US$6,000. Hong Kong is the Mainland third largest export partner (the first two
being the European Union and the United States). The PRC’s Commerce Department
data shows that Hong Kong’s investment in Mainland China amounts to US$600
billion, i.e. 46 percent of all of its foreign investment. As is apparent from
data of different sources, the Mainland has to rely on Hong Kong.”

“Even
without mentioning the mutually beneficial economic co-operation, the Mainland
is still indebted to Hong Kong from the historical standpoint. During the Great
Leap Forward when 30 million Chinese were starving to death (I do not know
whether Jia has read about this part of Chinese history?), Hong Kongers
selflessly extended help to the Mainland. More recently, whenever there were
natural disasters like floods and earthquakes, Hong Kongers, apart from
donating money generously, were involved in a series of rehabilitation hope
-projects. On the other hand, the so-called tourism benefits brought about by
the individual travel scheme are only concentrated in sales of luxury goods and
local properties, to the detriment of local small and medium businesses. The
real effect of that scheme is to enrich the few conglomerates; it does not
benefit the average citizen at all. Indeed, citizens have had to bear the
negatives, like street congestion, bad behaviors of travelers, parallel trades
and a whole lot of resource distribution problems. I would urge Jia to take a
fuller view of facts before writing, and would beseech the award panelists to
use their common sense in making judgment.”

“On another issue, the essay mentions that
the film ‘Vulgar Comedy’ discriminates against mainlanders because one of the
characters in the film played by Cheng mocks at mainlanders, which reflects a
fear that Hong Kongers harbor. First of all, the film is not discriminatory
towards mainlanders, as that character is a nouveau-riche plebeian and is not
representative of all mainlanders. What the film tries to mock are the
philistine habits of some nouveau-riche commoners – it does not amount to
discrimination. However, what Jia says about Hong Kongers’ fear is correct, but
for the wrong reason. Starting from the day of the handover, the Central
Government has constantly been chipping away Hong Kongers’ freedom, trying
arrogantly to domesticate Hong Kong with the Mainland’s officialdom way of
handling things. It even mentions co-operation of the three powers. Now Hong
Kong enjoys less and less freedom. Dissidents are suppressed. A society attuned
to lies is in the making, thanks to the Central and Hong Kong SAR governments.
The freedoms that we enjoy are a natural endowment – they are not granted by
the Basic Law. We are being robbed of those freedoms. Certainly we have good
reason to fear.”

“What should have been an arts critique essay
turns out to read more like a social commentary, full of political motives. I
cannot but be baffled as to why such an essay could be selected for an award.
Is it proper for the Arts Development Council to be thus politically charged?
Why has this Council in Hong Kong become so like the Propaganda Department in
directing ideology? If such an essay is worthy of an award, then participants
in the next competition will probably slant their essays towards ideology. I
would rather watch vulgar films than read a work of venomous lies.”

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About Me

Always fascinated with iconic but unsung females in Chinese history and legends, I cherish a dream of bringing them to the page. Chinese history and poetry, Jin Yong novels, English, French and Russian classics have colored my life and imagination.